Senate pick can skip politicians

November 20, 2008|By Eric Zorn

Don Wade is urging Gov. Rod Blagojevich to appoint him to the U.S. Senate.

State law requires Blagojevich to name a successor to fill the two years remaining in the term of former Sen. Barack Obama, who has left to take a new job. And Wade, a talk-show host on WLS-AM 890, has been publicly urging Blagojevich to name him in part because he's a newcomer who would be beholden to no one but the people of Illinois.

He has a campaign Web site, T-shirts and a gaudy list of endorsements.

It's all a big joke, of course. And not just because Wade is a Republican and the Democratic governor is certain to award the seat to a Democrat. But because he's not a politician. He's not one of the predictable aspirants whose name is on the not-so-short list of genuine hopefuls.

But the big joke causes me to ask a serious question: Why not pick a smart, well-spoken, accomplished person brimming with ideas for the U.S Senate?

There are plenty of people out there who would offer vital, refreshing perspectives on Capitol Hill but will never be elected to go there because they have no interest in the grueling, greasy, handshake-and-pretty-please of campaigning.

I'm talking here not so much about talk-show hosts or other media figures, but about men and women in business, academia, the law, the clergy, not-for-profit institutions and the non-political end of the public sector.

Brilliant people who don't have the connections, the money, the ruthlessness or the rampaging ambition it takes to run for the Senate, but who would shine if they were handed the job.

Wasn't this the idea, long ago? That prominent, committed citizens would go off to serve a term or two in Washington, then return to normal life? That being a lawmaker was an opportunity and duty, not a career?

Blagojevich can't revive that quaint idea. It died nearly at birth in our nation's history. But now he has a rare opportunity to honor it while making good on his recent pledge to "look beyond the political landscape and ... in the world of business and academia," as his spokesman put it.

My suggestion -- and I offer it more as an example than an actual nomination -- is Richard C. Longworth.

Yes, it's a media-centric choice -- Longworth was business editor and a star foreign correspondent for the Tribune before he retired in 2003 to become a senior fellow at the Chicago Council on Global Affairs. His specialty is economics, and his recent book, "Caught in the Middle: America's Heartland in the Age of Globalism," shows his keen understanding of how our regional interests intersect with international issues.

Plus, like Obama, Longworth was an early opponent of the invasion of Iraq (and I have the debate scars to prove it).

I've asked acquaintances who've done a lot of interviewing to offer some outside-the-box suggestions of impressive public figures (with likely Democratic leanings) who might make good senators.

Their nominations so far include low-income housing activist Jean Butzen, Loyola University Chicago President Michael Garanzini, novelist Sara Paretsky, University of Chicago Law School Dean Saul Levmore, Chicago Public Schools board President Rufus Williams and MacArthur Foundation vice president and former Daley chief of staff Julia Stasch.